Covered nail.



No. 663,307. Patented Dec. 4, 1900. G. W. TUCKER.

COVERED NAIL.

(Application filed Feb. 16, 1900.) (No Model.)

WITNESSES INVENTOR UNrrnn STATES GEORGE WV. TUCKER, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT.

COVERED NAIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 663,307, dated December 4, 1900.

Applicati n filed February 16,1900. Serial No. 5,469. (No model.)

Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Covered Nail, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to covered nails of the class commonly known as furniture-nails, the special object in View being to produce a nail that shall be inexpensive to make, ornamental in appearance, whose finished head shall have a rounded or beaded edge as distinguished from a raw edge, so that the edges of the heads will not cut fine cloth upon which they may be used, and which shall be covered by a wholly new method of manipulating the covering metal, so that a stronger and better finished head may be produced from thinner metal and with perceptibly less metal by weight in each head than by the present method, my novel method consisting of three steps only, each of which may be performed by the simplest of presses, or all of which maybe performed bya simple form of triple-acting press, thereby wholly doing away with the expensive and complicated machinery heretofore employed in the manufacture of furniture-nails and producing a better nail from less stock and in a very much less expensive manner than has heretofore been possible, and,moreover,producing a nail having a rounded or beaded edge formed by bending the metal of the head-blank upon itself instead of a raw-cut edge liable to injure fine textile material.

With these ends in view I have devised the simple and novel covered nail whichI will now describe, referring to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and using reference characters to designate the several parts.

Figures 1 and 2 are plan views illustrating different forms of cover-blanks. Figs. 3 and 4: are sectional views corresponding, respectively, with Figs. 1 and 2, showing the shape of the blanks after the first operation; Fig. 5, a sectional view corresponding with Fig 3, showing the mannerin which the edges of the blank are closed inward toward the shank of the nail by the second operation. Figs. 6 and 7 are plan views corresponding, respectively,

with Figs. 3 and 4, showing the manner in which the cover is completed andset to place and the rounded bead at the edge is formed by the third operation; and Fig. 8 is a section on the line 8 8 in Fig. 6.

The special machinery by which my novel covered nail is formed and the shape in which the metal for the covers is supplied to the machine is not of the essence of my inven;

tion. For example, the metal may be supplied in the form ofasheet or a strip, as preferred, or independent blanks may be furnished to a machine or to the first of a series of ordinary presses. The blank itself, which I have designated by A, may be either square or triangular, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, so as to out without scrap,and is very much thinner than any blank heretofore used in the manufacture of this class of nails. This blank, which may or may not be cut from a strip or sheet by the first operation, is cupped and drawn by the first operation to substantially the form illustrated in either Fig. 3 or Fig. 4E. The upper edge of the cupped blank after the first operation presents teeth or projections which I have designated by 10 and which correspond with the original corners or ends of the blank.

B denotes the nailfor example, an ordinary wire nailprovided with a suitable point 11 and head 12.

By the second operation the nail is dropped into the cupped blank, the head of the nail lying at the center of the bottom of the cup, and the points 10 of the blank are closed inward toward the shank more or less closely, as preferred, so that the partly-formed head is now in the form of a ball loosely attached to the nail, as is clearly shown in Fig. 5.

By the third operation, which may be performed by the simplest form of press, the cover has its finished form imparted to it. It will be noted (see Figs. 6, 7, and 8) that the metal of the cover is folded upon itself. In practice the metal at the fold is not closed upon itself tightly, but is folded over in such a'manner as to form a rounded head 13 around the edge of the finished cover. This rounded bead, unlike the raw-cut edges of furniture-nails now upon the market, does not injure fine textile material and is therefore in itself a valuable feature of improvement. The final swaging of the third operation closes the projections 10 of the blank closely about the shank of the nail and down upon the under side of the head. The completed cover there fore consists of two plies of thin sheet metal set closely together and preferably formed with a circular rounded bead at the edge of the cover and having the head of the nail clamped tightly between the pliesthat is to say, the head of the nail lies between the center of the blank and the ends of its projections or corners, by which it is centered and firmly clamped in place. The head, in addition to preventing cutting of the cloth by the edge of the cover, acts to strengthen and stiifen the cover, which is an important feature, as it enables me to use much thinner metal for the covers than would otherwise be practicable. In the finished cover the edges of the projections of the blank lie closely in contact with each other, as is clearly shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the drawing of the blank, which is a part of the first operation, being just suflicient, so that after the closing in of the projections, which is accomplished by the second operation, the partly-finished cover will be spherical in form, and after the swaging, which is accomplished by the third op eration, the finished cover will be circular in outline and may have the ordinary contour of a furnitnre-nail or any desired ornamental contour that it maybe desirable to impart to it.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- A nail of the character described having a two-ply cover formed from an angular blank of sheet metal, said blank being folded over to form a rounded bead around the edge of the-finished cover, the corners of the blank engaging and centering the nail and the head of the nail being clamped between the plies.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE W. TUCKER.

Witnesses:

OTIS S. NoRTHRoP, HENRY T. S'IEDMAN. 

